Every once in a while you run across someone who just gets it. The world traveler who knows how to walk off an all-night flight and into a business meeting without missing a beat. The restaurant patron who can pair the perfect bottle of wine to any meal. In this case, it's Red Humphries' ability to perfectly meld vintage sheetmetal with late-model powertrain and interior touches that has us standing and applauding.

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We've seen countless attempts at this. Putting modern parts on a classic car. Sometimes it works for a few years, like putting the latest Camaro wheels on your early Chevy, or grafting a later-model center console and seats into your muscle car. Sorry to say, but these are the rave at first, but they look outrageously unoriginal and outdated just a few years down the road. The art that Red has crafted in this '68 Mustang goes well beyond bolting on late-model wheels. He used a variety of components to create what a '68 Shelby GT500 would look like if it were produced today. And we dare say that his car will look just as cool 10 years from now as it does today.

Red is no newbie to the sport. As the owner of Red's Place in Charlotte, North Carolina, he makes his living by building, restoring, and creating cool rides for other people. In fact, he's been doing this his whole life. In 1970, he had a '50s Ford Country station wagon. He'd borrow from his rent money to buy and sell wagons to build his. He'd take the better parts off the new car, putting them on his, and then hoping he could resell the extra wagon before the rent was due.

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He was at a car show last year with a friend and customer, Paul Lange, when they came across a '68 Shelby fastback for sale. The asking price was pretty hefty, but his friend was interested in buying it, and he asked Red what he thought. He said, "I think it is 12 o'clock now, and if you give him 200 grand now, put your dog in the front seat at 2:30 and drive home seven hours, then drive the car for 90 days and drive it back, you'll probably lose around 100 grand." Then he did it. Red tossed out the comment that for far less, he could build a clone that would be even more fun to drive.

The next day, Paul called Red and said, "Do it." And so the process began. Red set out to build a '68 Mustang the way that Carroll Shelby might if he were to do it today with modern technology. Red spent the next three months thinking about how he would build the car and researching what components were available. This wasn't going to be a catalog build, where you just order one of everything that fits a '68 Mustang. The components were strategically selected. In fact, the year of the car was chosen because the SVT blower would fit under a '68 Shelby hood. Red chose the best of all the parts that he could get his hands on. He selected pieces that would look right and work well together, and he passed on those that just didn't fit with the desired style.

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Choosing the drivetrain was relatively easy. A supercharged SVT 5.4-liter for a '08 Mustang GT500 and Tremec T-56 was a no-brainer. Making it fit and look like it belonged there, however, required some planning and work. He actually corralled the engine and transmission before he had a car. Both components were brand new in crates. He chose a set of tubular headers, a cold air kit, and aftermarket electronic tuning to boost the power to an estimated 610 hp. He then located a Mustang body that another shop was throwing away!

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Red found that a Fatman Fabrication Power Suspension Module (PSM) would accommodate a 4.6-liter, so he reasoned that the 5.4 should fit as well. Red had several people tell him that the 4.6 and 5.4 are pretty much the same. After this project, Red says that's true, until you get them out of the box. There are hundreds of slight differences that keep the 5.4 from being a direct fit for anything designed for a 4.6. The Fatman PSM is designed to better control high-torque engines. It also lowers the car about 3 inches. It converts the car to front-steer rack-and-pinion (the rack mounts in front of the axle center line instead of behind it). This helps makes room for just about any Windsor or Modular engine. The system also uses a coilover suspension for excellent road control, and adjustable ride height. Red capped the new front suspension with Wilwood brakes and grafted the whole suspension module to the car.

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Since the concept of this car was to make it look the way that Shelby would build one today, Red passed on all the billet accessories. Underhood, the car has the appearance of a stock late-model. Cast-aluminum valve covers, factory hoses and hose clamps, Ford fluid reservoirs, and so on. If you've never tried to create this look, you can't imagine the effort it takes to pull it off so thoroughly. The only thing that doesn't look like it came that way from the factory are the shock-tower braces that tie the Fatman system to the cowl for additional support. The bottom line is that the visual execution of Red's Mustang is spot-on, and forsakes anything that will look outdated in a few years.

8/23A 5.4L V-8 doesn't fit in an early Mustang, but that didn't stop Red Humphries from doing it. And the execution with factory hose clamps, wiring looms, and reservoirs makes it look as if Ford put it there.

To finish the drivetrain, Red reworked a 9-inch. He stuffed a third-member with a Ford limited-slip and a set of 3.50 gears for some serious highway speed. For suspension in the rear, he mounted a pair of QA1 coilovers to a Ridetech AirBAR. We're pretty sure that neither QA1 nor Ridetech had that combination in mind, but it works for Red. The combination provides a strong mounting location for the coilovers with appropriate suspension travel and shock angle. With coilovers at all four corners, Red said he can tune the suspension so you can drive the car and drink a cup of coffee without a lid, and then dial it up to lay down some serious lap times on a road course.

When it came to the exterior, the windshield frame is about all that's left of the donor car that Red started with. Repop parts, along with a whole lot of sheetmetal replacement and fabrication, recreate the classic lines of a '68 Shelby. Only subtle differences set it apart from the others. At the rear, Red made sequential turn signals function in the vintage tail lamps. The snake on the gas cap is vintage, while the fender emblems are from a late-model. Instead of a tubular rollbar, he grafted in a late-model winged bar that better fits with the style of the car. The biggest difference from the side is the wheels. American Racing Shelby 17-inch wheels front and rear match the style of the car so perfectly that original Shelby GT500 wheels just look wrong in comparison. The front of the car relies heavily on reproduction components, but hidden among them are modern touches like the late-model GT500 hoodpin plates.

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The interior posed an additional challenge. Red wanted some modern conveniences in addition to classic styling, and everything needed to be functional. The style and form of the original dashboard was retained, and the factory gauges were replaced with new meters from Classic Instruments. The white faces provide a modern performance look while the internals deliver the precision that's required with a blown motor underhood. A tilt column was added and topped with a wood-rimmed, three-spoke steering wheel to maintain the classic styling. Even though there is a thoroughly modern transmission under the carpet, the shifter retains the style of the original four-speed's shifter, complete with the reverse-lockout mechanism.

10/23Red relocated the ignition key switch to the cigarette lighter hole inside the ashtray and installed a late-model push-button start where the key was supposed to reside.

The seats started out as a pair of Procar seats by Scat, but were modified for fit, and covered in black vinyl with stitching to give them a '60s flavor. As a nod to modern technology, Red installed a Kenwood sound system complete with a motorized display. Power windows and a Vintage Air system complete the creature comforts.

11/23The Classic Instruments are a perfect fit in the '68 Mustang gauge cluster. In addition to these meters, boost and volt gauges reside in a custom lower dash panel ahead of the shifter.

It took Red a year to build this car. As the owner of a specialty car shop, it's hard to carve out time for your own project, so this is actually an exceptionally short build. His son, Ben, and friend-turned-employee Cassie Allen worked with him to complete the car.

Shortly after the car was finished, Red and the friend who prompted this car build headed to Vegas for the Mustangs Across America driving event. Seems only fitting. Red's biggest surprise is that Paul wanted to buy the car. At least Red still gets to drive it now and then!